


call it fate

by snowandfire



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Earth Kingdom (Avatar), F/M, Fortune Telling, Light Angst, mai goes to see aunt wu, preteen maiko implied, she loves him your honor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:01:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26280796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowandfire/pseuds/snowandfire
Summary: "I don't believe in fortune telling," Mai explains."I see a banished prince in your future.""Whatever."or: mai goes to see aunt wu[set in S2, pre-Azula taking over Ba Sing Se]
Relationships: Mai/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 225





	call it fate

Mai isn’t sure how they ended up in this little village. The master plan is to head to Ba Sing Se, where they’ve heard the avatar currently is. Once there, Azula has a plan. She always has a plan. This place--it’s a needless detour. Even if it is just an overnight stay. It’s a waste of time.

Mai’s not even sure why Azula’s so interested in this place. She considers. Then she calculates that asking, just once, is probably okay. 

“The avatar was here, I want to know why.” Azula gives no other explanation. She knows she's in control here. She waves her hand for Mai to follow her. 

They’re friends, allegedly. But Mai knows she’s not allowed to probe further. She’s gotta keep her head down and follow through. At least the fighting (however infrequent) is exhilarating. She prefers it to dinner parties and politics. And there is always the chance that somewhere, somehow, they could run into _him_. He was after the avatar too, for a time, maybe he came through here. 

There’s nothing that special about this village in Mai’s opinion. Apparently there’s a fortune teller here. Ty Lee is over the moon. _Predictable._

They’re in disguise as regular Earth kingdom girls. There’s no reason why they can’t go in for a reading. Well, none in Ty Lee’s eyes. Mai can think of lots of reasons. 

“She’s probably a big old fraud, she’s lived in the village her whole life. She _knows_ these people. She knows what they’re going to do,” she attempts to break it to Ty Lee gently. 

“Come on, you don’t know that! I have a good feeling about this.” Ty Lee smiles. 

_Of course you do._

Mai looks towards Azula. She has the final decision. The final word. Always. The princess sighs, then nods. It doesn’t surprise Mai, not really. Azula does little things like that all the time. To appease the two of them. Little treats. The kind you would throw to a chipmunk-dog to secure its loyalty. It’s sickening. Infuriating. But Mai can’t think that way. She won’t. That’s not her. Yelling and shouting and crying. Standing up for what was right. That’s what Zuko had done. And he had paid for it. 

She can hear his voice in her head. His laugh. The way he said her name. _Mai._

She remembers the first time she saw him firebend. Years before the fountain incident. She remembers cupping the little flames in his hands and watching the shadows flicker across her fingers. _His_ fire had always been warm. Rosy and red. Like an extension of himself in its playfulness. It’s innocence. 

That had always been the difference between them. Zuko didn’t see things the way they were. He saw what they should be. But Mai was a realist. She knew what she had to do. She knew how the world worked. Who her parents were. That they did not love her. Not the way she needed. Zuko hadn’t known that. Even now, after all of it--he still clung to the hope that he could come back. 

She’s knocked out of her reverie by Ty Lee grabbing her wrist and pulling her into the fortune teller’s home. It smells of incense. There’s flower petals scattered around. The place has red walls, and the woman, the one who will read their fate, is sitting on the floor. 

Ty Lee goes first, disappearing off with the woman to another room. Mai’s left alone with Azula. Who doesn’t bother to fill the gaping silence with small talk. _Thank the spirits._ It doesn't take long. 

Ty Lee is positively beaming when she returns. Glowing with praise for the fortune teller, who’s named ‘Aunt Wu’ apparently. She prattles on and on about how she was told she had a future with a group of girls, how she would learn to embrace her individuality. 

Mai sighs. That’s easy enough. This Aunt Wu person is clearly just telling people what they want to hear. That part Mai can respect, she does it all the time. As for a future with a group of girls. It’s not that hard to say that about Ty Lee when she literally came in with a group of girls. _Honestly._

When the fortuneteller points towards Azula the princess says ‘no thanks’ with a haughty shake of the head. Mai’s tempted to follow suit, stop this stupid exercise and get onto something interesting. But there’s technically nothing else to do in this place anyway. This will kill time. Whatever. 

She follows Aunt Wu into the other room, and sits cross legged on the floor in front of her. There’s a little fire going in the center of the room. Between Mai and the woman. _Charming._

Mai fixes the fortune teller with a look. “Give it your best shot.” 

“You are far from home,” Aunt Wu says after staring into the fire and then back at Mai. 

_That’s not impressive._ Mai yawns. You can probably tell that from the accent alone. 

“Maybe I am,” Mai replies. 

“You have a hard time expressing your emotion,” the fortuneteller tries again. 

_Please._ That’s something that any perceptive person could read off of Mai in a matter of minutes. Mai sighs. This isn’t even interesting. 

“You will love someone.” The other woman’s eyes widen. “Intensely, fervently.” 

“Most people do,” Mai points out. 

“They do. But you will sacrifice everything for him. Even after he leaves you.” 

_Nice little fantasy._

“Sure I will.” Mai stands up, she’s had enough of this. She turns around. 

“Wait. The one I see in your future. He will be an important man. Returned from banishment. A ruler with a disfigured--”

“Face,” Mai finishes. _Zuko._

“So you know him already? I can tell you a bit more. He is a powerful bender. He--” 

Mai holds back the tears in her eyes. She knows Azula is still sitting outside. 

“I know him,” she says, slowly, but defiantly. “You don’t need to tell me about him.”

She’s had enough people try to tell her about him. _Dishonorable. Weak._ She’s had to sit in rooms and listen as people whisper about the scar. About how he looked. Cowering in front of his father that day. Mai has to listen to everything. Hold back her own rage. Thankfully she’s had years of practice. 

Azula talks about him too. She gloats all the time. About ‘poor Zuzu’. Mai stays quiet. She holds her tongue. She channels her feelings into throwing her knives. She hits her targets every time. 

Even her parents talk about him. How if things were different, they would have made a match for the two of them. Her and Zuko. Such a pity what happened. At least she’s friends with Azula. They hold onto that much.

She’s tired of people talking about him. They didn’t know him. They didn’t know the sound of his laughter. They didn’t know the feel of his warm lips on her cheek. They didn’t know how he had told her every little secret he had and she had held each and every one. Close to her heart. She still did. They didn’t know that she had told him secrets too. That he had been the one good and pure thing she was allowed to have and they had given him pain and anger and fire that was never his to carry. 

So no. She won’t listen to some fortune teller tell would-be tales about him. However this lady found out about it. She won’t. This time. Mai doesn’t have to listen. 

“I’m sorry, but I’ll have to see myself out,” Mai says, and her voice cracks as she says it. She hates that.

Once Mai comes out, Ty Lee’s on her immediately to spill about her fortune. She easily buys the bullshit story Mai spins on the spot. But as they’re leaving the place, Ty Lee falling into step slightly behind them, Azula grabs her arm. There’s a smile playing at her lips. 

“What did she _really_ tell you?” Azula demands, “Anything of use?”

“You don’t believe in this stuff.”

“I’d still like to know.” 

“I’ll get married one day. I’ll have a little girl. She’ll be the apple of my husband’s eye. We’ll have a boring, peaceful life. She’ll grow up and give me two grandkids. One boy and one girl. We’ll name the grandson after my husband’s father,” Mai lies smoothly, “Happy now?” 

Azula laughs. “That sounds awful.” 

Mai pauses for a second, and considers that sort of life with Zuko. Maybe...in another life. It could have been nice. But it’s not something she can have. She almost smiles. 

“Yeah. Awful.”

**Author's Note:**

> come say hi to me at @itszukkatime  
> also yes the exchange i showed in the summary wasn't technically in the fic, but it was there *in a way* let me live


End file.
